1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for bathing body parts, such as the feet or hands.
2. Background Art
Most people experience foot problems at some time in their lives. This is not surprising, considering that many people are employed in jobs that require them to be on their feet all day. In fact, even an average day of walking can exert force equal to several hundred tons of pressure on the feet.
In an attempt to alleviate a variety of podiatric problems, bathing of the feet has become a recognized therapeutic method. For example, soaking soothes the feet and aids in recovery from fatigue. Bathing of the feet also stimulates the circulation of blood therethrough, which results in increased metabolism and excretion. In addition, foot bathing facilitates the removal of painful growths such as calluses, bunions, and corns.
Many types of footbaths have been utilized as therapeutic devices for the feet. Typically, footbaths provide heated water for which the temperature is maintained via electrical means. In addition, current footbaths often provide massage to the feet through vibration of the footbath. Vibratory massage enhances the therapeutic results achieved with soaking alone by further increasing circulation, as well as relaxing and massaging the muscles.
Conventional footbaths may be difficult and/or awkward to transport, fill and empty due to size, weight and difficulty of stabilizing the footbath to prevent splashing or spilling of water from the footbath. The water in the footbath also adds to the weight, thereby increasing the difficulty in manual transportation. The prior art has offered footbaths with handles that are typically on the backside or underside of the bath chamber, and thus, are only useful when the bath chamber is empty and the water is not a factor.
The prior art has also provided footbaths having a peripheral rim or one or more handles displaced about the peripheral rim. Although such peripheral handles are useful for transporting the footbath in an empty condition, two-handed carrying is necessitated. Two-handed carrying may be awkward by requiring the user to carry the footbath close to his/her body. Such transportation often lacks in ergonomics and results in unsteady movements, thereby causing splashing or spilling of the fluid therein.
The prior art has offered various massage features such as rotary massage attachments on the housing of the footbath, for providing a targeted massage or therapeutic effect to a body part of the user. Oftentimes, such features require the user to rest the body on the housing adjacent to the massage attachment. Due to the structural rigidity of the adjacent housing portion, such resting may be uncomfortable or awkward. Additionally, it may difficult for a user to convey the targeted body part to the massage feature.
Personal care for one's feet often extends outside the realm of features conventionally provided in footbaths. For example, consumers may treat their feet to pedicures and lotions as well as bathing, massage and therapy.
Therefore, a need exists for a footbath that can be transported ergonomically when filled or empty. A need also exists to enhance comfort to a user when operating auxiliary features of a footbath. Incorporation of various foot treatment features into a footbath is also needed so that a user may experience a variety podiatric and pedicure features from a single apparatus.